Marriage as a Means of Support.
1.--Decline of the Marriage Rate.
When we consider the conditions enumerated above, it requires no
further proof to recognize that a growing number of persons do
not regard the wedded state as a desirable goal, but hesitate to
enter into it. This explains the phenomenon, that in most civilized
countries the marriage rate is stationary or declining. It was a
matter of old experience, that an increase in the price of grain
had a detrimental effect on both the marriage and birth rates. With
the growing industrial development of any country the marriage and
birth rates are influenced more and more by the ups and downs of
the market. Economic crises and a lowering of the general economic
standard have a lasting unfavorable influence. This may be seen
from the marriage statistics of various countries. According to the
latest census, 12,832,044 marriages were contracted in the United
States during the period from 1887 to 1906.
1887 483,096
1891 562,412
1892 577,870
1893 ~578,673~
1894 ~566,161~
1902 746,733
1903 786,132
1904 ~781,145~
1905 804,787
1906 853,232
These figures show that as a result of the crises during 1893 and
1894, the marriage rate declined by 12,512. The same phenomenon recurs
in 1904, during which year the marriage rate declined by 4987. The
following table shows marriage statistics gathered in France:
1873–1877 299,000
1878–1882 281,000
1883–1887 284,000
1888–1892 279,000
1893–1897 288,000
1898–1902 296,000
1903–1907 306,000
The marriage rate attained its highest figure, 321,238, during the year
1873. From that time on the marriage rate declined only to increase
again with times of prosperity. In France the highest marriage rate
since 1873 was attained in 1907 when it reached 314,903. To some
extent this increase was due to a new law that went into effect on
June 21, 1907, by which the legal formalities required in order
to become married were simplified. This increase was especially
noticeable in the poorer districts. The following table shows the
number of marriages contracted for every thousand inhabitants in
various European countries:
=========================================================================
1871 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896 1901
COUNTRIES to to to to to to to 1907
1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900 1905
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
German Empire 18.84 15.68 15.40 15.68 15.88 17.83 16 16.2
Prussia 18.88 15.86 15.92 16.32 16.40 16.86 16.2 16.4
Bavaria 18.92 14.65 13.64 13.96 14.76 16.09 15.2 15.4
Saxony 19.96 17.70 17.62 18.64 17.52 18.76 16.6 16.8
Austria 18.30 15.52 15.88 15.40 15.76 16.04 15.8 15.8
Hungary 21.51 19.30 20.24 17.72 17.92 16.05 17.2 19.6
Italy 15.54 15.06 14.08 17.64 14.96 14.40 14.8 15.4
Switzerland 16.06 14.90 13.80 14.00 14.72 15.59 15 15.6
France 16.06 15.16 15.04 14.48 14.90 15.14 15.2 16
England
and Wales 17.08 15.34 15.14 14.70 15.16 16.14 15.6 15.8
Scotland 14.98 11.76 13.76 18.02 13.68 14.94 14 14
Ireland 9.72 9.04 8.66 8.66 9.48 9.87 10.4 10.2
Belgium 15.44 13.94 13.94 14.34 15.24 16.45 16.2 16.2
Netherlands 16.64 15.76 14.28 14.04 14.48 14.88 15 15.2
Denmark 15.88 15.54 15.38 13.94 13.84 14.79 14.4 15.2
Norway 14.58 14.40 13.82 12.76 12.92 13.73 12.4 11.8
Sweden 14.04 13.20 12.84 12.20 11.45 12.04 11.8 12
Finland 17.68 15.72 14.90 14.40 12.98 15.34 13 13.6
European Russia
excl. the Vistula
province 19.62 17.62 18.06 17.94 17.08 17.80 -- --
Bulgaria -- -- 18.04 17.24 16.07 -- -- --
Servia 22.80 23.32 22.14 21.76 19.84 -- -- --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
That the marriage rate rises and sinks with the rise and decline of
national prosperity is most strikingly noticeable in Germany. The
largest number of marriages (423,900), were contracted in Germany
in 1872, the year after the close of the Franco-Prussian war. From
1873 on, the marriage rate declined until in 1879, the year when the
crisis was at its worst, it attained its lowest figure (335,133).
Then it gradually increased again until 1890, a year of prosperity,
to sink once more in 1892 and again to increase with the years of
returning prosperity until with the height of prosperity the highest
figures were attained (476,491 in 1900, and 471,519 in 1899). The
next crisis brought another decline. In 1902 the number of marriages
did not exceed 457,208 while in 1906 and 1907 it rose up again to
498,900 and 503,964.
But in general the statistics of most countries point to a decline
of the marriage rate. The highest numbers attained during the
seventies were attained only in exceptional instances at the close
of the nineties. But not only the earnings have a strong influence
on the marriage rate, the conditions of property have so likewise.
Statistics from the kingdom of Wurtemberg show, that with the
increase of large estates the number of ~married~ men between 25 and
30 years of age decreases and the number of ~unmarried~ men between
40 and 50 years of age increases. Small estates are favorable to
the marriage rate, because they enable a greater number of families
to maintain a decent though modest livelihood, while large estates
are, for obvious reasons, unfavorable to the marriage rate. With the
growing industrial development of a country, the number of marriages
in urban trades and professions increases. The following statistics
from Sweden during the years 1901 to 1904 show the relation of
marriage to occupation:
Agriculture per 1000 4.78
Industry “ “ 7.17
Commerce “ “ 7.75
Learned professions “ “ 6.33
All these figures prove that not moral but economic causes are the
determining factors. ~The number of marriages like the moral status
of a social group depend upon its material foundation.~
2.--Infanticide and Abortion.
Fear of poverty and doubts as to whether it will be possible to
bring up the children suitable to their station in life, cause many
women of ~all~ classes to commit deeds that are averse to the laws
of nature and to the laws of organized society as well. Such deeds
include the various methods to prevent conception, and when this has
occurred nevertheless, artificial abortion. It would be a mistake
to assume that such methods are resorted to only by frivolous,
unscrupulous women. They are, on the contrary, frequently resorted
to by conscientious wives, who feel that they must limit the number
of offspring and rather submit to the dangers of abortion, than to
deny themselves to their husbands and thereby drive them to the
devious paths. Other women again take this step to conceal a “sin,”
or because they abhor the discomforts of pregnancy, child-birth and
motherhood, or because they fear that their physical beauty will
be impaired and that they will accordingly seem less attractive to
their husbands and to men in general. These women readily obtain
medical and surgical aid at high prices.
Artificial abortion seems to be practiced more and more. It was
frequently practiced among the ancients and is practiced to-day
among both civilized nations and savages. The old Greeks practiced
it openly, without any legal restraint. Plato regarded it as within
the province of the midwife, and Aristotle permitted it to married
people when a pregnancy that was not desired took place.[60]
According to Jules Ronyer, the women of Rome practiced abortion
for several reasons. In the first place they wished to conceal
the results of their illegitimate relations; secondly they wished
to indulge in uninterrupted excesses, and thirdly they sought to
avoid the detrimental effects of pregnancy and child-birth upon
their beauty.[61] Among the romans a woman was considered old when
she attained the thirtieth year, and the women therefore shunned
everything that was likely to make them age more quickly. During
the mediaeval ages abortions were punishable by severe penalties,
in some instances even by capital punishment, and a free woman who
had practiced it became a serf.
At the present time abortions are practiced chiefly in Turkey and in
the United States. “The Turks do not regard a foetus as being really
alive until after the fifth month, and have no scruple in causing its
abortion. Even at later stages, when the operation becomes criminal,
it is frequently practiced. In 1872 at Constantinople, more than
three thousand cases of abortion were brought before the courts in
a period of ten months.”[62]
More frequently yet it is practiced in the United States. In all the
large cities of the union institutions exist where women and girls
can go to bring about premature birth. Many American newspapers
contain advertisements of such places.[63] In some strata of American
society an artificial abortion is discussed as openly as a regular
confinement. In Germany and other European countries it is regarded in
a different manner, and according to German law both the perpetrator
and the accomplice may be punished by imprisonment. Abortion is
often followed by the worst results; not infrequently it results
in death, and in many cases it means the permanent destruction of
health. “Dangers from the most unfavorable pregnancy and child-birth
are less great than from artificial abortions.”[64] Sterility is
the most frequent result. Nevertheless the practice is becoming
more frequent in Germany also. The following number of persons were
convicted of criminal abortion: From 1882 to 1886, 839; from 1897
to 1901, 1565; from 1902 to 1906, 2236.[65] During recent years
several cases of criminal abortions created a sensation, because
distinguished physicians and prominent society women figured in these
cases. Judging by the advertisements in German newspapers, there
also is an increase of those places and institutions where married
and unmarried women are given an opportunity to await the results
of their wrong-doing in absolute secrecy.
The fear of a too numerous progeny in consideration of the economic
status and the cost of education has caused the introduction of
preventive measures among entire classes and nations and has gradually
developed into a regular system that threatens to become a public
calamity. It is a wellknown fact that almost all strata of French
society abide by the custom of limiting their offspring to two
children. Few civilized countries have as high a marriage rate as
France; but notwithstanding this fact, in no other country the birth
rate is as low and the increase of population as gradual. The French
bourgeoisie, the peasantry and the working class, all abide by this
custom. In some parts of Germany the conditions among the peasantry
seem to have lead to a similar state of affairs. In a picturesque
region in the south-western part of Germany, a certain species of
tree, which furnishes an ingredient for an abortive remedy, is grown
on every farm. In another region the peasants have long since followed
the custom of limiting their offspring to two children; they do not
wish to divide up their farms. Another noteworthy fact is the marked
increase in the publication and sale of literature discussing and
recommending means for optional sterility. Of course, these books
are always clothed in “scientific” garb and invariably point to the
threatening danger of excess of population.
Besides the prevention of conception and artificial abortion, crime
also plays a part. In France child exposure and infanticide have
increased as a direct result of French civil law, according to
which it is interdicted to investigate paternity. The “Code civil”
provides that “La recherche de la paternité est interdite,” but “la
recherche de la maternité est admise.” This law forbids to search for
a child’s father but permits to search for its mother. With brutal
frankness it thus proclaims injustice to the unfortunate girl who
has been seduced. The men of France may, by the provision of this
law, seduce as many girls and women as they please; they are freed
from all responsibility and do not have to contribute anything to
the support of their illegitimate children. This law was framed
under the pretext that women must be deterred from seducing men. We
see, everywhere it is the poor, feeble man,--although his is the
strong sex,--who never seduces but always is seduced. The result
of this paragraph of the “Code civil” was the framing of another
paragraph which provides that “L’enfant conçu pendant le marriage a
pour père le mari” (the husband is father to every child conceived
during marriage). While it is forbidden to search after a child’s
father, deceived husbands must regard children as their own, that
have sprung from illicit relations their wives may have maintained.
We must admit that the French bourgeoisie is at least consistent.
Until now all attempts to repeal these obnoxious laws have failed.
On the other hand the French bourgeoisie seeks to atone somewhat for
the cruelty of preventing women, who have been deceived, from seeking
financial aid from the fathers of their children, by establishing
foundling institutions. Thus the new-born babe is deprived not only
of its father but of its mother as well. According to the French
conception foundlings are orphans, and the French bourgeoisie thus
permits its illegitimate children to be reared as “children of the
nation” at the expense of the state. A wonderful institution!
Lately French methods have been copied in Germany. The new German civil
law contains provisions in regard to the legal status of illegitimate
children, that are in contradiction to the more humane laws that
were in force heretofore. One paragraph states that “an illegitimate
child and its father are not regarded as being related,” while
Emperor Joseph II had already decreed that legitimate and illegitimate
children should be equal before the law. Another paragraph states
that “an illegitimate child is fatherless if its mother maintained
relations with several men at the time of conception.” The child is
made to suffer for its mother’s frivolousness, weakness or poverty.
Frivolous fathers are not taken into consideration by the law. The
law concerning illegitimate children furthermore provides: “it is the
mother’s right and duty to care for the person of the illegitimate
child. The father of the illegitimate child is obliged to provide
for same until the completion of its sixteenth year, in accordance
with ~the social status of the mother~.” According to former Prussian
law, the seducer was obliged to provide for the child in accordance
with his own social status and wealth. If the woman had been seduced
with the promise of marriage, she was entitled to all the rights of
a divorced wife, and in those cases the illegitimate children were
regarded as legitimate before the law. These more just and humane
provisions have now been dispensed with. The tendency of German
legislation is a retrogressive one.
During the period from 1831 to 1880, 8568 cases of infanticide were
tried before the French court of assizes. This number increased
from 471 during the years 1831 to 1835 to 970 during the years 1876
to 1880. During the same period 1032 cases of criminal abortion were
tried, 100 of these during the single year 1880. It goes without
saying that only a small number of the artificial abortions actually
practiced ever come to the notice of the courts. As a rule only
such cases are brought to public attention that result in severe
illness or death. The rural population furnished 75 percent of the
infanticides, and the urban population furnished 67 percent of
criminal abortions. The women residing in cities have more means at
hand to prevent normal child-birth; therefore the cases of abortion
were numerous and the cases of infanticide relatively few. In the
rural districts the inverse ratio prevails. In Germany the following
number of persons were convicted of infanticide: from 1882 to 1886,
884; from 1897 to 1901, 887; from 1902 to 1906, 745.
This is the picture presented by present day society in regard to its
most intimate relations. It differs considerably from that picture
which is usually drawn for us by poetic visionaries, but it at least
has the advantage of being true. Yet the picture is incomplete; a
few characteristic features must still be added.
[60] Elie Metchnikoff--The Nature of Man.
[61] Jules Ronyer, Etudes médicales sur l’ancienne Rome. Paris 1859.
[62] Elie Metchnikoff--The Nature of Man.
[63] According to an official investigation, 200 persons were counted
in New York who made a profession of artificial abortions.
[64] Edw. Reich--History of Abortion and its Dangers.
[65] Criminal statistics of the German Empire for the year 1906.
3.--Education for Marriage.
All parties are agreed that at the present time the female sex is,
on an average, mentally inferior to the male sex. Balzac, who by
no means was an admirer of women, nevertheless declared, “a woman
who has obtained the education of a man, indeed possesses the most
brilliant and fruitful qualities for establishing her own happiness
and that of her husband.” Goethe, who was well acquainted with the
types of men and women of his day, uttered the following sharp remark
in “The Years of Travelling of William Meister” (Confessions of a
fair soul): “scholarly women were held up to ridicule, and educated
women were not popular either, probably because it was regarded as
impolite to disgrace so many ignorant men.” But that does not alter
the fact that women, as a rule, are mentally inferior to men. This
difference is bound to exist, ~since the mental status of woman is
but what man, her master, has made it~. The education of women has
always been pitifully neglected, even more than the education of
the proletariat, and even at the present time it is insufficient.
In our age the desire for the exchange of ideas is a growing one
among all classes of society, and accordingly we begin to recognize
the neglected mental training of women as a great mistake, one from
which not only women, but men also must suffer.
With men education is mainly directed upon the development of the
intellect; it is supposed to sharpen their reasoning powers, to expand
their knowledge and to strengthen their will-power. With women,
especially among the upper classes, education is mainly directed
upon the development of their sentiments; it chiefly consists of
attaining various accomplishments that only tend to heighten their
imaginative faculty and to increase their nervous irritability, such
as music, literature, art and poetry. That is the greatest error in
education that could possibly be committed. It shows that educators
have allowed themselves to be guided by their prejudices concerning
the nature of woman and her narrow sphere in life. The development
of sentiment and imagination in women should not be artificially
stimulated which only increases the tendency to become nervous. With
women, as well as with men, the mental faculties should be developed
and they should be acquainted with the practical facts of life. It
would be the greatest advantage to both sexes if women were less
sentimental and more rational; if they displayed less nervousness and
timidity, and more courage and will-power; if they possessed fewer
accomplishments, and a broader knowledge of the world and mankind
and the natural forces of life. Until the present time the spiritual
life of woman and her sentiments have been stimulated to the utmost,
while her intellectual development has been neglected, hampered and
repressed. As a result she literally suffers from spiritual and
sentimental hypertrophy, which makes her susceptible to all sorts
of superstitions and miracle-frauds, an easy victim of religious
and other swindles, a willing tool of bigotry and reaction. Men in
their short-sightedness frequently lament this fact; but they do
nothing to change it, because the great majority of them are still
deeply entrenched in their own prejudices. As a result of this false
education, women generally regard the world very differently from men,
and thereby another great source of differences and misunderstandings
between the sexes is established.
For every man in present day society, participation in public life
is one of the most essential duties; that many men still fail to
recognize this duty does not alter the fact. But an ever widening
circle of men has begun to recognize that public institutions
~directly affect~ the private relations of each individual, and
that the welfare of individuals and families depends far more upon
the nature of public institutions than upon personal qualities and
actions. They have begun to recognize, that even supreme efforts on
the part of a single individual are powerless in combatting evils
that are rooted in social conditions, and influence his position
accordingly. Moreover the struggle for existence necessitates far
greater exertions to-day than formerly. Demands are made upon a man
to-day, that require more and more of his time and strength. But the
ignorant, indifferent woman is usually incapable of comprehending
his duties and interests. We may even say that the differentiation
between man and woman is greater to-day than it was formerly, when
conditions were more petty and narrow, and therefore more within
the range of woman’s understanding. Occupation with public affairs
to-day claims a greater number of men than formerly. This expands
their ideas, but it also estranges them from their domestic circle.
Thereby the woman feels neglected, and one more source of differences
has been created. Only in rare cases do men succeed in making
themselves understood by their wives and in convincing them. As a
rule the man holds the opinion that his aims and interests do not
concern his wife, and that she is unable to understand them. He does
not take the trouble to instruct her. “You don’t understand that,”
is the usual reply when a woman complains to her husband that he is
neglecting her. The lack of understanding on the part of the women
is still heightened by the lack of common sense on the part of the
men. Among the proletariat the relation between husband and wife is
more favorable, when both recognize that they must follow the same
path, since one, and one only leads to a better future for them and
their children: the complete reorganization of society that will
make all men and women free. As this recognition spreads among the
women of the proletariat, their wedded life becomes ~idealized~
in spite of misery and want. For now both husband and wife have a
common aim to strive for, and their common struggle furnishes an
inexhaustible source of inspiration in exchange of opinions. The
number of proletarian women who have awakened to this recognition
is growing with each year. Here a movement is expanding that will
be of vital importance to the future of mankind.
In other marriages the differences of education and conceptions, that
were overlooked in the beginning while passion was still strong, become
more and more noticeable with the advancing years. But as sexual
passion decreases, it ought to be replaced by mental conformity.
Quite disregarding the fact whether or not a man recognizes that he
has social and civic duties, and whether or not he fulfills these
duties, his business or profession alone suffices to keep him in
constant touch with the outside world, and to create an intellectual
atmosphere about him that broadens his views. Contrary to the woman,
he is usually in a state of intellectual moulting; but domestic
activities require the woman’s time and attention from morning till
night, and being deprived of opportunity for mental development,
she is apt to become dull and mentally stunted.
This domestic misery in which the majority of wives in present day
society are obliged to live, has been truly pictured by Gerhard
v. Amyntor in his book on “A Commentary to the Book of Life.” In
the chapter on “Fatal Stings” he says: “It is not the terrible
occurrences that no one is spared,--a husband’s death, the moral
ruin of a beloved child, long, torturing illness, or the shattering
of a fondly nourished hope,--it is none of these that undermine the
woman’s health and strength, but the little daily recurring, body
and soul devouring cares. How many millions of good housewives have
cooked and scrubbed their love of life away! How many have sacrificed
their rosy cheeks and their dimples in domestic service, until they
became wrinkled, withered, broken mummies. The everlasting question:
‘what shall I cook to-day,’ the ever recurring necessity of sweeping
and dusting and scrubbing and dish-washing, is the steadily falling
drop that slowly but surely wears out her body and mind. The cooking
stove is the place where accounts are sadly balanced between income
and expense, and where the most oppressing observations are made
concerning the increased cost of living and the growing difficulty
in making both ends meet. Upon the flaming altar where the pots are
boiling, youth and freedom from care, beauty and light-heartedness
are being sacrificed. In the old cook whose eyes are dim and whose
back is bent with toil, no one would recognize the blushing bride
of yore, beautiful, merry and modestly coquettish in the finery of
her bridal garb.--To the ancients the hearth was sacred; beside the
hearth they erected their lares and household-gods. Let us also hold
the hearth sacred, where the conscientious German housewife slowly
sacrifices her life, to keep the home comfortable, the table well
supplied, and the family healthy.” That is the only consolation that
bourgeois society is able to offer those women who slowly perish as
a result of the present order!
Those women who enjoy a freer position as a result of their more
favored social circumstances, usually have a narrow, superficial
education that is manifested in connection with inherited, female
characteristics. Most of these women are interested only in external
appearances; dress and personal adornment are their chief concern,
and the satisfaction of their depraved tastes and their unbridled
passions, form their object in life. They are not interested much in
the children and their education; that would mean too much trouble
and annoyance. Therefore they willingly turn over their children
to nurses and governesses and later on to boarding-schools. At the
most they regard it as their duty to make silly doll-women of their
daughters, and superficial, extravagant dandies of their sons.
This class of young men, who regard idleness and extravagance as a
profession, furnishes the seducers of the daughters of the people.
The conditions described above have lead to a number of traits of
character peculiar to women, that are more fully developed from
generation to generation. Men seem to find satisfaction in ridiculing
these traits, but they forget that they themselves are to blame for
them. The following are some of these frequently condemned female
traits of character: talkativeness and scandal-mongering; the
inclination to discuss the most insignificant things at the greatest
length; the exaggerated interest in outward display; the love of
dress and coquetry; envy and jealousy toward the members of her sex,
and the tendency of being dishonest and hypocritical. These traits
of character usually manifest themselves with the female sex at an
early age; they are general and only differ in degree. These traits
have developed under the pressure of social conditions, and they
have been further developed by heredity, example and education. One
who has been brought up unwisely is not likely to bring up others
wisely.
In order to understand the origin and development of traits of
character common to an entire sex or to an entire people, we must
follow the same method that modern scientists apply to understand the
origin and development of living beings and their characteristics.
The material conditions of life to a great extent imprint upon every
living being its traits of character. It is compelled to adapt itself
to these existing material conditions, until the adaptation becomes
its nature.
Human beings form no exception to that which holds true for all living
beings throughout nature. Man is not exempt from natural laws. Viewed
physiologically, he is merely the most highly developed animal. Of
course, many persons refuse to admit this. Thousands of years ago
ancient peoples, although they knew nothing of modern science, held
more rational views in regard to many human problems, than a great
many of our contemporaries, and, what is more noteworthy still, their
views that were based on experience, were put into practice. We
praise and admire the strength and beauty of the men and women of
ancient Greece; but we forget that it was not the climate of this
beautiful country that had such a favorable influence upon the nature
and development of its population, but the educational maxims that
were consistently carried out by the state, and that were destined to
combine beauty, strength and skill with mental sharpness and vigor.
Indeed the mental development of woman was neglected even then, but
not so her physical development.[66] In Sparta where physical culture
of both sexes was most extensively practiced, boys and girls went
about naked until the age of puberty, and together they joined in
physical exercises, games and wrestling-matches. The display of the
nude human body, the natural treatment of natural things, prevented
the extreme sexual irritation that is mainly caused by an artificial
separation of the sexes from childhood on. The body of one sex was
no mystery to the other. No dallying with ambiguities could arise.
Nature was regarded as such. Each sex took pleasure in the beauty
of the other.
To a natural, untrammeled relation of the sexes must mankind return;
we must cast aside the unsound spiritualistic conceptions concerning
human affairs and create methods of education that shall bring about
a physical and mental regeneration. The prevailing conceptions in
regard to education, especially the education of women, are still
exceedingly reactionary. That a woman should possess such qualities
of character as strength, courage and determination, is decried as
unwomanly, and yet no one can deny that by means of such qualities
she will be better enabled to protect herself. But her physical
development is hampered, just like her mental development. This is due
in no small degree to the irrational mode of dress. Woman’s dress not
only interferes with her physical development, it frequently does her
direct bodily harm; and yet there are few, even among physicians,
who dare to oppose it. Fear of displeasing the patient causes them to
be silent or even to flatter her follies. The modern style of dress
prevents women from freely exercising their strength, hampers their
physical development, and creates a feeling of helplessness in them.
Moreover, woman’s dress endangers the health of her environment,
for at home and on the street she is a walking generator of dust.
The physical and intellectual development of women is furthermore
severely hampered by a rigorous separation of the sexes in school
and in social intercourse, that is quite in accordance with the
spiritualistic conceptions implanted by Christianity, and is still
sadly prevalent among us. The woman who is given no opportunity to
develop her abilities and talents, who is maintained within a narrow
sphere of ideas, and rarely permitted to associate with members of the
other sex, ~cannot~ rise above the commonplace and trivial. For her
ideas are centered in the occurrences of her immediate environment.
Verbose conversations over a mere nothingness and the tendency to
gossip are fostered by this narrow life, since the mental activities
that reside in every human being must find expression somewhere. Men
are frequently grievously annoyed and driven to despair by these
qualities which they roundly condemn, without pausing to consider
that they, “the lords of creation,” are chiefly to blame for them.
During recent years numerous attempts have been made to introduce
more rational conceptions of life; but they are merely a beginning,
and until now have been confined to a very small portion of society.
[66] Plato, in “The State”, demands that women should be given an
education similar to men, and Aristoteles in “Politics” declares
as a fundamental principle of education: “first let the body be
developed and then the mind.”
4.--The Misery of Present Day Marriages.
As a result of our social and sexual relations, woman is directed
toward marriage by every fibre of her existence, and naturally
marriage constitutes a chief topic of her conversation and thought.
As woman is physically weaker than man, and is subjected to him by
custom and law, her tongue is her chief weapon to be used against
him, and she naturally makes a liberal use of this weapon. In the
same way her much berated love of dress and personal adornment can
be explained, that leads to increasingly eccentric follies of fashion
and often causes financial troubles and unpleasantness to fathers
and husbands. To man, woman has chiefly been an object of enjoyment.
Being socially and economically dependent, she must regard marriage
as a means of support, and thus becomes subservient to man, becomes
his property. Her position is rendered more unfavorable still by
the fact that the number of women usually exceeds the number of
men; we will return to this phase of the question later on.--This
disproportion increases the competition of women among themselves, all
the more so because, for numerous reasons, many men fail to marry.
Woman is therefore compelled to enhance her personal charms, in order
to compete with the members of her own sex in the struggle for the
possession of a man. When we consider that this disproportion has
existed through many generations, it is not to be wondered at that
these characteristics have gradually assumed their present, extreme
form. We must consider moreover that at no time the competition among
women for the possession of man was as severe as it is at present,
owing to causes, some of which have already been, and others that
still are to be enumerated. The increasing difficulty of obtaining
a decent livelihood also directs woman more than ever to marriage
as a means of support.
Men do not object to these conditions, since they are favorable
to them. It flatters their vanity and serves their interest to
play the part of the ruler, and as all rulers they are not easily
accessible to reason. It is all the more important therefore that
women themselves should strive to bring about conditions that will
liberate them from their present, degraded position. Women can no
more rely upon the aid of men, than the workers can rely upon the
aid of the bourgeoisie.
When we furthermore consider what traits of character are developed
by competition along other lines, how, for instance, industrial
competition leads to hatred, envy and calumny, and how the competitors
resort to the basest means, we find an explanation for the fact that
similar traits of character have been developed in women by their
competition for the possession of a man. It is due to this permanent
competition that women, as a rule, cannot get along as well with
one another as men can; that even intimate friends are easily led
to quarrel when the favor of a man enters into consideration. This
competition also explains what may be frequently observed, that when
two women meet, even though they are utter strangers to one another,
they regard each other in a hostile way. With a single glance they
have summed up each other’s shortcomings in the manner and style of
their clothes, and in the looks of each the verdict may be read:
“I am better dressed than you are and am better able to attract
attention to myself.”
On the other hand woman is by nature more impulsive than man. She is
less given to reflection, is more unselfish and naive, and is more
controlled by passion. These traits of character are expressed in
their most beautiful form by the unselfish self-sacrifice with which
she serves her children and others who are near and dear to her and
cares for them during illness. But when angered, her impassionate
nature manifests itself in its ugliest form. Yet the fact remains that
both good and evil qualities are fostered, hampered or transformed,
by the social position. The same propensity that may be harmful under
unfavorable circumstances may, under favorable circumstances, become
a source of happiness to oneself and others. Fourier has ably shown
that the same human propensities may, under different circumstances,
lead to opposite results.[67]
Beside the improper mental education, the improper or insufficient
physical education in regard to the purposes of nature, remains to
be considered. All physicians are agreed that woman’s education
for her profession of motherhood is almost entirely neglected.
“Soldiers are trained in the use of their weapons, and mechanics
in the use of their tools. Every profession requires preliminary
study. Even the monk has his noviceship. Only the woman is not
educated for her serious maternal duties”.[68] Nine tenths of all
maidens who are given an opportunity to marry, enter matrimony in
complete ignorance of motherhood and its duties. The unpardonable
prudery that prevents mothers from speaking to their grown daughters
about the important functions of sex, leaves them in a state of
densest ignorance concerning their duties to their husbands and to
themselves. The entrance into marriage means to most women entrance
into an utterly strange world. Their conceptions of marriage are
purely imaginative, drawn from novels of doubtful value, and are
usually very foreign to reality.[69] Another source of differences
may be found in the lack of practical knowledge of housekeeping
that is still quite essential in present day marriage, though women
have been relieved of many domestic activities that were formerly
inevitable. Some women are deplorably ignorant of household duties
because they consider themselves superior to such work and regard it
as a task for servants only. Others, daughters of the proletariat,
are equally ignorant, because the struggle for existence compelled
them to toil in the factory from morning until night, and they found
no time to prepare for their future profession of housekeeper. It
becomes more and more evident that the trend of development makes
individual housekeeping unpractical, and that it can be maintained
only by an irrational sacrifice of time and money.
There is still another cause that to many men destroys the purpose
of marriage: the physical enfeeblement of women. The food we eat,
the manner in which we live, the conditions of our work and the
character of our amusements, all tend to act more destructively than
favorably upon our physical condition. Rightly is our age termed a
nervous age. But nervousness leads to physical degeneration. Anaemia
and nervousness exist in an especially marked degree among women.
This physical degeneration is fast becoming a social calamity, and
if it would continue to exist for several generations more, without
our being able to procure more normal conditions of development, it
would ultimately lead to race destruction.[70]
The female organism requires special care in consideration of
its special sexual functions. It requires good and sufficient
nourishment and at certain periods it requires rest. For the great
majority of women such care does not exist, nor can it be obtained
under present-day conditions. Women have so accustomed themselves
to self-denial that many women consider it a matrimonial duty to
give their husbands the best morsels and to content themselves with
insufficient food. It also frequently happens that the boys of a
family are better nourished than the girls. It is generally assumed
that women can content themselves with poorer and less nourishment
than men. Young girls are therefore often a sad sight to professional
authorities on hygiene and physical culture.[71] A great number
of our young women are weak, anaemic, and extremely nervous. The
results are suffering during menstruation and diseases of the sexual
organs that sometimes make it dangerous or impossible to give birth
to children or to nurse them. “If the degeneration of our women
continues to go on in the same manner as up to the present, it will
become doubtful whether civilized man may still be classified with
the mammals.”[72] Instead of being married to a healthy, cheerful
companion, a capable mother, a wife attending to her domestic duties,
the man is burdened with a sickly, nervous woman who cannot endure
the slightest draught or the least noise and requires the constant
attendance of a physician. We need not dwell longer on this subject.
Everyone knows of a number of such cases among his own friends and
relatives.
Experienced physicians assert that the majority of married women,
especially in the cities, are in a more or less abnormal, physical
condition. According to the degree of the ailment and the characters
of husband and wife, such marriages must be more or less unfortunate.
In accordance with public opinion they entitle the men to take
liberties outside of their matrimonial relations, and the knowledge
of this fact must heighten the misery of the wives. Sometimes the
sexual requirements of husband and wife also differ widely and give
rise to profound disharmonies, yet the much desired separation is
not possible.
In connection with this, the truth must not be concealed that in a
great many cases ~the men are responsible for the severe physical
sufferings that befall their wives in marriage~. As a result ~of
their profligate lives, many men suffer from chronic sexual diseases
that they frequently treat lightly~, because they do not cause them
much trouble. But during sexual intercourse with their wives, these
fall victims to severe abdominal diseases that set in shortly after
marriage and frequently result in sterility. Usually the unfortunate
woman is ignorant of the true cause of the disease that mars her
life and destroys the purpose of marriage, and reproaches herself or
is reproached for the condition that her husband has caused. Many a
blooming young woman becomes a chronic invalid after she has barely
entered marriage,--neither she nor her relatives are able to explain
her condition, and the physician must maintain silence. Recent
investigations have shown that childless marriages are frequently
due to sexual diseases of men; while formerly the lords of creation
maintained the convenient theory that the woman was always to blame
when their marriages remained childless.[73]
Numerous are the causes that prevent present day marriage from being
what it ought to be. It is therefore a recommendation of doubtful
value when even learned men seek to oppose the woman movement by
pointing out to woman that marriage is their true vocation. As a
result of our social conditions marriage has become a carricature
foreign to its true purposes.
[67] A. Bebel--“Charles Fourier, His Life and His Theories.” Stuttgart,
1907. J. H. W. Dietz.
[68] Irma v. Troll-Borostyani--“The Mission of our Century. A Study
of the Woman Question.”
[69] In “Les Femmes qui tuent et les femmes qui votent,” Alexander
Dumas, jr., relates that an eminent Catholic clergyman had told
him that among hundred of his former female pupils who had become
married, at least eighty came to him after a few months had elapsed
and told him that marriage was a disappointment to them and that
they regretted having married. That seems very plausible indeed.
The French bourgeoisie find it compatible with their conscience to
have their daughters reared in convents. They are influenced by the
assumption that an ignorant woman is more easily guided than an
enlightened one. Conflicts and disappointments in marriage are the
inevitable result. Laboulaye even frankly advises to maintain the
women in moderate ignorance, for “notre empire est détruit si l’homme
est reconnu.” (Our rule will be destroyed if man is recognized.)
[70] Softening of the brain has increased more rapidly among women
than among men. Among every hundred patients admitted to asylums in
Prussia there were cases of softening of the brain:
[Women] [Men]
1876–1879 17.0 3.7
1880–1891 17.3 5.4
1892–1894 17.7 6.8
1895–1897 18.5 7.6
1898–1901 16.2 7.5
[71] Further details on this subject may be found in “The Book of
Women,” by Mrs. H. S. Adams, M. D., Stuttgart.
[72] Dr. F. B. Simon, “The Care of the Health of Women.”
[73] Dr. F. B. Simon discusses this subject and the analogous subject,
why so many young women become ill after marriage without being able
to account for it, at length. His book is a glaring reflection upon
the wrongdoings and vices of men.